1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a container with an outlet nozzle and a closure cap for the outlet nozzle, the container having an outlet opening, which is closed off by a membrane, and the outlet nozzle having an outlet body with an outlet channel as well as a connecting element for connecting the outlet body to the outlet opening of the container, and there being provided an element which can pierce the membrane during or after connection of the outlet body to the outlet opening of the container.
2. Discussion of the Related Art
Known containers of this type are filled with a liquid or pasty product. Relevant examples are tubes of adhesive and cartridges for joint-sealing compounds and other pasty products. Such containers are known, for example, from DE 41 26 477 C2 and DE 44 20 719 A1. The containers have three main elements, namely first of all the actual container with an outlet opening, secondly the outlet nozzle which can be attached to, or screwed onto, the outlet opening and has an elongate narrow channel, which is intended to permit precise portioning of the container contents, and thirdly a closure cap which is removed prior to the container being used. In the case of the containers known from the documents, the outlet opening of the container is closed off by a membrane, which has to be pierced prior to the container being used for the first time. Provided for this purpose, within the closure cap, is a needle-like piercing element which can be moved axially with respect to the closure cap. When the container is used for the first time, with the closure cap attached, the needle-like pin is moved downward in the direction of the outlet opening of the container, with the result that the membrane is pierced. Thereafter, the closure cap is removed from the container together with the needle-like pin, with the result that the container contents can emerge through the outlet opening and the narrow channel of the outlet nozzle in an apportioned manner.
In another known container (EP 0 155 471 A2), the membrane is fitted at the tip of the outlet nozzle. Here too, the needle-like piercing element is designed as part of the closure cap.
Following use of the container according to DE 44 20 719 A1 or DE 41 26 477 C2, the closure cap usually has to be reattached to the outlet nozzle in order to avoid unintended outflow or drying out of the container contents. For this purpose, the long, needle-like piercing element has to be reintroduced into the narrow channel of the outlet nozzle in order to close off the container opening. The disadvantage here is that this closure operation requires a certain amount of skill. In order to simplify the closure operation, the piercing element cannot, in the case of the known containers, simply be removed since, in this case, the container opening is not fully closed off when the closure cap is attached.
The object of the invention is thus to render renewed closure of a container of the type mentioned in the introduction considerably easier.
This object is achieved, in the case of the container of the type mentioned in the introduction, in that the element that can pierce the membrane is designed as part of the outlet body. It is particularly preferred here that the membrane is only pierced following connection of the outlet body to the outlet opening of the container, because this reliably avoids unintended emergence of the container contents, with the attendant difficulties, when the outlet nozzle is fitted.
Since, according to the invention, the piercing element is designed as part of the outlet element, use may be made of a closed closure cap which is known per se and can easily be fitted, e.g. screwed, onto the container with the membrane pierced and the outlet nozzle attached. The task of laboriously inserting an elongate piercing element into the narrow channel of the outlet nozzle is no longer necessary.
The position of the element for piercing the membrane can preferably be changed axially with respect to the connecting element, with the result that the membrane need not be pierced at the moment when the outlet nozzle is fitted on the outlet opening of the container. Rather, the membrane can be pierced at any desired later point in time by virtue of the axial change in the position of the piercing element.
In an advantageous configuration of the invention, the outlet body may have two parts which can be changed in terms of their axial position with respect to one another and of which one part bears the element for piercing the membrane and the other part bears the connecting element. In this case, the other part, which bears the connecting element, is preferably essentially annular and the part which bears the element for piercing the membrane is essentially tubular and is arranged essentially concentrically within the annular part. This means that the annular part can be fastened, e.g. screwed, on the neck of the container and it is only thereafter that the membrane can be pierced by axial displacement of the tubular part within the annular part.
For this purpose, it is proposed that the outlet opening of the container has an external thread onto which a first internal thread of the annular part can be screwed, and that the annular parts have a second internal thread into which the tubular part can be screwed by way of its external thread.
Membrane piercing, with the tubular parts only being turned slightly, which is relatively quick in comparison with the annular part being screwed slowly onto the container, is achieved if the second internal thread of the annular part has a larger pitch than the first internal thread of the same part.
The element for piercing the membrane is advantageously designed as a sharp edge of the tubular part.
In order to render piercing of the membrane easier, the outside of the outlet body, and in particular the outside of the tubular part, has at least one grip element, in particular wing-like protrusions, grooves or teeth, so that the axial position of the element for piercing the membrane can be changed with respect to the connecting element. For manual displacement of the piercing element, such grip elements provide a firm grip for the user's hand.
In a further configuration of the invention, drying out of the product in the open container is prevented if, in the attached state, the closure cap at least partially covers over the outlet body and closes off the outlet channel in particular.
Said closure cap preferably has at least one actuating element which, when the closure cap is attached, engages in the grip element, with the result that, when the closure cap turns, that part of the outlet body which bears the grip element also turns. The membrane may thus also be pierced when the closure cap is attached, by the closure cap being turned with respect to the container.
In a particularly preferred configuration of the invention, the closure cap has an internal thread which can be screwed onto an external thread of the annular part and is defined such that, when the closure cap is unscrewed from the annular part, the tubular part moves axially in the direction of the outlet opening of the container.
For this purpose, it is proposed that the second internal thread of the annular part be designed to run in the opposite direction from the external thread of the same part. The external thread is preferably a customary right-hand thread, with the result that the closure cap can be unscrewed from the annular part by being turned in the anticlockwise direction. The second internal thread of the annular part, however, is preferably a left-hand thread, with the result that, when the closure cap turns in the anticlockwise direction, that is to say during an unscrewing movement, the tubular part is simultaneously moved in the opposite direction toward the outlet opening of the container, and thus toward the membrane.